Bhan Sahu thought being poor meant walking a kilometer to school and then having to drop out when she was eight years old, until she started working at an NGO and realized there were others even less fortunate than herself. Her interest in education didn’t wane, however. Using video as a tool to bring people together, her Community Correspondent reports…

Bhan Sahu

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After getting land tenure under the Forest Rights Act 2006, families in Munjal needed to build their homes. They were promised money under the Indira Awas Yojana to do this but never got the entire amount. They fear their voices will get lost in a bureaucratic maze and want your help.

Call to Action: Please call the Chief Executive Officer PriyankaShukla on 09479053511 and ask her to ensure that the residents of Munjal get the funds owed to them.

The Forest Right Act 2006 is a crucial start to giving India’s traditional forest dwelling communities their rightful ownership over land as well as giving them a voice in heated debates about conservation of forests and wildlife.

Munjal Village in Rajnandgaon, Chattisgarh was declared a forest area and subsequently many residents were able to successfully get their land rights under the Act. Now having got this land, the residents like NerarsinghNetamstarted the task of getting their homes built; finally they had security and wouldn’t be thrown off their land. Most residents of Munjal are small farmers; scraping together this money was obviously a challenge.

They were promised money under the Indira AwasYojana, the Indian Government’s flagship housing scheme. Each family was promised INR 48,500 in early 2013.  After the first two instalments of INR 24,000 the money stopped coming in. Cash-strapped, the farmers decided to stop construction.

“8-9 of us farmers have decided that we must go to the government and ask for our money… With the house incomplete my children and cattle are having a hard time in the monsoon,” says NerarsinghNetam.

Having met the residents during a council meeting Community Correspondent BhanSahu felt compelled to make this video. She says:

“I’ve worked on land rights issues in Chhattisgarh for nearly two decades. Since the FRA was enacted we’ve been working with different groups to bring people awareness about their rights. This is one of the most common problems we face. The second major problem is that many officials mislead forest dwelling communities about their rights or the procedures that need to be followed. In Munjal, since the farmers had gotten this land with so much difficulty, I thought they should also get the full amount of funds they were promised.”

You can make sure this happens! 

-Written by Kayonaaz Kalyanwala